YAY! I'm starting to get some feedback! This is great! I luv all of you!

Paige Turner3: You are forgiven for not reviewing earlier :) I'm glad you like the story, and I'm glad you like Marie-Eve. I've kind of based her character on my eldest niece, since they're about the same age. Thanks for your encouragement, it's really appreciated!

Inuyasha-gal-97: Thanks for reviewing. I hope you like the story so far. Erik sends his thanks!

Dahna: I'm glad you like the story. I'll try to add the translations to those French songs to one of my author's notes, hopefully in the near future. I'll remember to post the translations to any future French songs that will appear in later chapters. Oh, sorry, you can't have your five minutes with Erik right now... He's busy with Inuyasha-gal-97... Try back later...

XxXxX

Christine and Raoul reached the city late in the afternoon. Richard had been sent to live at their neighbour's house until they returned. They rode their horses into the streets of Paris, which were rather empty as most people had already retreated to their homes for dinner.

"I still think you should have let me go alone," Raoul said to her.

Christine shook her head. "This whole mess is my fault. I have to be with you. I'm the only one Erik will listen to…" She suddenly stopped. "What's that?" she pointed at something small and white on the ground.

Raoul dismounted and picked up the object. His eyes grew wide and the colour drained from his face as he held it out to her.

"Erik's mask!" Christine cried. Then she noticed something else. Hoof prints in the mud.

"Let's follow them!" Christine said as she spurred her horse, barely giving Raoul a chance to mount his steed again.

They travelled as fast as their horses would go, beyond the city limits.

"Do you really think they came this far?" Raoul called to Christine.

"They must have!" she answered. "Look! Over there!"

Raoul dismounted again to pick up another object lying on the ground. A piece of black cloth.

"It's from Erik's cloak!" Christine said.

"It's been torn," Raoul said, inspecting it. "And… there's… there's blood on it…"

Christine's stomach twisted into a knot. "He wouldn't have hurt her… I know… he wouldn't… not intentionally… he wouldn't have hurt her…"

"Let's go!" Raoul said. "He must have gone this way!"

They travelled a few more miles, following the trail, when suddenly a light, swinging tune reached their ears.

"Do you hear that?" she asked. She dismounted and tied her horse to a tree. Raoul followed suit. They were in a small town just outside the city. And the streets were rather empty.

Raoul and Christine walked down the dusty road, following the sound of the music. They reached the top of a hill and stopped. Before them they saw tents and vendors, the whole area bustling with activity.

"Looks like the fair's come to town," Raoul commented.

"Let's go," Christine said, tugging urgently on his sleeve. "Maybe someone down there has seen Marie-Eve!"

Raoul and Christine entered the fairground just as a large man in a red suit stood up on a tall wooden box. He wore shiny black boots, had a bushy grey moustache, and in one hand he held a cane with a silver skull on the end of it. A gypsy, obviously.

"Mesdames and messieurs!" he called loudly. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Robert Boisvert! I bid you welcome to our fair!"

Raoul laughed under his breath. "Is this guy for real?" he said to Christine.

"Mesdames and messieurs!" Boisvert continued, sweeping an arm around to point at the tent behind him. "Behind this tent, I will show you a horror beyond your imagination! Some of you may recall that Paris, your neighbour, has been haunted! In the grand Opera Populaire, the people have been stalked by a terrorist of the worst kind… a Phantom!"

Christine gasped and clutched Raoul's arm. What was going on?

"He's killed men… Terrorized the patrons of the great opera house… He's committed crimes to horrible for me to relate to you! I went to the Opera Populaire myself! I found this Phantom. But I discovered that he was no ghost… He was a demon! A demon so evil that Hell itself could not hold him! I captured him, and now you yourselves may enter and behold the hideous monster! Have no fear… He cannot harm you whilst I am here!" He gestured grandly. "Only ten francs! I beacon you… Come inside and behold the Phantom of the Opera!"

The crowd surged forward, money in hand, each of them eager to poke their head inside and see the monstrosity.

Christine turned to Raoul. "What will we do?"

Raoul put his arms around her. "Let's wait until nightfall, when everyone's gone. We'll come back then… and we'll see if it's really him…"

Christine nodded. "Until nightfall…"

XxXxX

Marie-Eve sat huddled by the lakeshore. She looked around. Without her Angel there, this strange underground world was so sinister-looking… So frightening…

Marie-Eve hugged her knees to her chest and gazed out across the water, hoping to see Papa come back on his boat.

Surely he hadn't forgotten her? Marie-Eve's empty stomach protested loudly. She was starving. He said he would be back soon. How long had she been waiting? Hours? Days?

She had lost all sense of time in this land of night…

Surely he wasn't hurt? Lost? No, of course not! Angels don't get hurt. Wherever he was, she was certain he was safe.

Marie-Eve shivered. It had grown cold. Her little fingers clutched her arms, trying to keep warm.

PerhapsPapa was needed elsewhere. Perhaps he had gone to help another child, somewhere.

He would be back… She was sure…

She just had to wait…

XxXxX

The town grew dark. The people had mostly retired to their beds. From their perch on the hill, Raoul and Christine could see that the fairgrounds were almost entirely deserted.

"It's now or never," Raoul whispered.

"I have to go alone," Christine told him. "There will be less chance of us getting caught if I go alone. Erik will speak with me… I know he will…"

"Christine," Raoul said. "I don't like this…"

"There is no other way…"

Raoul sighed. "Be careful."

"I will," she said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. She raced down to the fairgrounds. She ducked behind a tent and peeked out. The grounds were empty. Everyone was asleep.

Suddenly, Christine heard Boisvert's awful laughter from inside the tent.

"Two thousand!" Boisvert cried. "Two thousand in just one day! That beast is a gold mine!"

"But what about that price on his head?" another man said. "If the police begin to suspect…"

"Aw, Babet, no one's gonna come sniffing… They think he's still in Paris!"

"What about the girl he's supposed to have taken?"

"She wasn't with him when we found him so she's not my problem!"

Anger burned in Christine's heart. She stole around the tent and snuck over to the tent that held the supposed Phantom of the Opera.

Christine paused before the entrance. She was afraid… Afraid of confronting him after all these years… Afraid of gazing into those haunted eyes once again… It had been years since she'd laid eyes on him… Years since she had heard his voice… Would he still hold that strange and awesome power over her? Would she crumble when she saw him, her mind growing weak and her resistance fading?

Did she still belong to him?

Christine steeled her nerve and pulled her shawl up over her head to shadow her features. Taking a deep breath, she plunged into the darkness of the tent.

XxXxX

Alrighty, then! Just so you know, I won't be able to update again until Friday, because I'm going camping and. obviously, I can't take my PC with me. I imagine this upsets a few of you, seeing as I have kind of left you with a bit of a cliffhanger. Don't worry! Time will pass swiftly in anticipation!

But I expect my e-mail to be full of review-alerts when I get back...

C'mon ladies! Erik needs someone to share that dark closet with!

See you all Friday!